Three Dreams (or One Dream with Three Acts)

(Editor's note:  Sometimes (if I am lucky)  I remember my dreams and post them.  This is  one of those times.)

Crazy dreams last night - helped along by the fact that it felt like I was awake all night.  I do not think that I was, but I had the distinct sensation of dreaming while I could completely sense the environment around me - it was not like last week where I was consciously awake all night.

Dream  #1:  In this portion of the dream I had (apparently) finally gone to Japan but for some reason was on the island of Shikoku rather than the Honshu, the main island.  I was trying to find something - a restaurant or store, I think - and so I was driving around the neighborhood looking for a place a to park.  Driving and driving to the point that there was a line of cars behind me and I could not stop to find a place.  And then when I did and went in, it was not at all what I expected - dark and dirty and dingy and with someone there - an American - who was essentially mocking me because I would not be able to speak Japanese well enough (I have toyed with Japanese for years and one of my actual goals this year is to pass the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (Level 5, the lowest level)  the year.  As I left I remember speaking back to him in Japanese in such a way that he was surprised.

Dream #2:  I was up after a rest. I walked out and saw the scenic beauty of Shikoku and started thinking I should take pictures to post.  As I was walking I found a dead animal - I cannot remember what it was but it was small and furry and recently dead.  I picked it up for no reason I can discern except to bury it somewhere and walked on.  Soon I found another, then two dead ducks (I specifically remember them being white ducks) - all recently dead.  Suddenly, as I am walking across a meadow or parklike field with pine trees around it, I was attacked by brown and white geese (I had a geese attack incident when I was 4 years old.  I have never trusted geese since then) who kept nipping and biting at me until I had thrown all the bodies of the animals at them and run off.

Dream #3:  My sensei and class were in Japan as well (no idea why, although for myself my goal is to go to training at Katsuura next year).  We were getting ready and sensei said we would have a guest tonight.  It turned out to be my new boss from work.

He was wearing a gi and  hakama  with embroidery on them, which means that he had some passed some level of testing.  After we introduced ourselves to him (I seem to remember my introduction being very quick and half done)  we proceeded to bow in, following his example.  But he was doing it all wrong- grabbing his obi (the wide fabric belt) and wadding it up in the front to put his sword in instead of sliding the sword between the second and third layers of the wrap. I wanted to say he was doing it wrong but my sensei and everyone else was following along (rule of thumb in martial arts: do what the sensei is doing).

And then suddenly we changed location again to a manufacturing plant in my industry that was outside, almost along a park path.  My sensei had left and now and old and respected boss ("Himself") was here with me.  Again, we were walking the new boss from work.  As we were walking, Himself was watching him and listening to what he was saying - as he did, I realized that he was saying things that I had been saying as well.  We came to a very steep spiral staircase going down (still outside, mind you - made of limestone) and I told Himself "Watch your step" - and no sooner than I had said that than he fell.  By the time I had reached him, the new boss was already there, lifting him up to a sitting position.

And then I woke up to my alarm.